RETURN TO CRYSTAL LAKE
CHAPTER 23- CROSSING PATHS


Krista ran as fast as she could in the only direction she knew.

The only problem was that she didn’t know what to do once she reached Crystal Point.

She had no time to think about it, so she figured she could at least hide somewhere inside the cave until she could devise a strategy.

She was so overwhelmed by the recent events that she didn’t even notice the total change of scenery.

Instead of running on the steep hill that led to Crystal Point, she was running on flat land.

There were no rocks.

Only trees and grassy clearings.

Running on pure adrenaline, she didn’t even look back to see how close Jason was. If she would have turned around, she would of saw that Jason was nowhere in sight.

Jason, far behind, calmly walked in Krista’s footsteps, knowing he was going home again.

The girl had nowhere to hide.

The rain continued to fall heavily, as thunder and lightning lit up the night sky. Krista’s mind then drifted back to the dead bodies she saw and how mangled Emmy and Sean were, and how her sister was pinned to the cabin door with a knife straight through her forehead.

She hoped and prayed that Scott and Ashley would still be alive, but something deep inside of her told her they were not. Her thoughts then drifted to Kevin.

Seeing his body lying there helpless just made Krista want to drop to her knees and cry.

"He can’t be dead, he just can’t be," she kept telling herself, still running full speed down the path.

The path then suddenly came to an end, and Krista wasn’t staring at the entrance to the cave that she expected.

Instead, she found herself staring at the front of an old, dark mansion.

The Voorhees Mansion.

“What the hell?” Krista muttered.

Now she really didn’t know what to do.

Somehow she took the wrong path.

Well, she didn’t have time to stand around and think about it. All she knew was that she was here and she had to get out of the open.

Out of sight of that maniacal killer.

As she ran toward the mansion, a wonderful thought occurred to her.

Maybe someone lived there that could help her.

There surely had to be someone, maybe a skilled hunter or farmer, that could help her escape.

"Please! Somebody help me!" she yelled, approaching the entrance.

Any thoughts of help quickly disappeared when she saw that the front door had been broken down.

Actually, as she got a better look at the door, it seemed as if it was strangely broken from the inside, not the outside.

Carefully stepping over the jagged pieces of wood, Krista entered the mansion.

As she peered around, it didn’t look like anyone had lived there for many years.

There was so much dust built up on every piece of furniture that was left, and the electricity didn’t work.

Finally, seeing the steps, she figured that that would be the best place to hide, so she quickly ascended to the second floor.

The first room she came to appeared to be a bedroom, so she got in and quickly closed the door behind her.

For some odd reason, this room was better lit than the rest of the house.

Glancing over at the dresser, she quickly noticed why.

On top of the dresser, there was a lantern lit.

Barely.

It was dying fast, just like everything else that day.

She didn’t have time to think about the lantern, because at that second, she noticed something the lantern provided just enough light to see.

It was Ashley’s dead body, lying on top of the bed. She had a hole in her chest the size of a golf ball and there was blood all over the floor.

Krista just screamed and stood there in horror, wondering who could of possibly done this.

Then she remembered the fight Scott and the professor had at the gas station about some kind of death curse.

Krista then put two and two together and remembered the professor talking about a man who kept coming back from the grave to take revenge for his mother’s death, and that he had a face so rotted, he had to wear a hockey mask to cover it.

Then, the professor’s words kept re-playing in her mind: "Jason Voorhees…"

She then realized that it was Jason Voorhees who was responsible for all of it.

She also knew that if she didn’t do something fast, she'd be next.

Krista had always been a religious person, and the story of coming back from the grave seemed too preposterous to believe, but the dead bodies sure made her a believer, and now she is the only one left to fight off this monster.

Krista then looked out of the corner of her eye, and noticed a window, and as she looked through it, there was Jason, staring directly at her.

Krista screamed and jumped back out of sight.

When she looked back, Jason was gone.

Which meant she didn’t have a lot of time before he reached her, so she had to do something fast.

Then she looked back at the lantern and got a plan.

Krista quickly grabbed the lantern and stood next to the door, waiting quietly.

Then, not even a minute later, Jason stepped in the room, and Krista smashed the lantern over the back of his head.

Jason was quickly engulfed in flames as he frantically swatted at his head, dropping the ax he was carrying.

Because the room was so dry and none of the outside water got in, the fire spread rather quickly throughout the room, burning the floor and walls.

Krista reached for the ax, but Jason grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the floor.

However, the old rotted floor was too weak to contain the fall and it gave way, sending both Krista and Jason crashing to the floor below.

As the flames spread, both Krista and Jason lay on their backs, unconscious.


Proceed To Chapter 24
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